Trouble in Paradise 5
by Darkfire Galaxy
Summary: Connor and Kira have grown into bright and healthy teenagers, but Maddy and Rhydian are concerned about the development of their daughter's Wolfblood powers. And unbeknownst to them, a dark plot is getting ready to cause serious trouble in paradise.


Wolfblood

Trouble in Paradise 5

 **Author's Note: Sorry this has taken so long to upload. I've been a bit behind in writing due to illness. Shoutout to Wolf Inferno and Onenightlive who are the reason that three of my stories were able to break ten reviews on the same day. A further shoutout has to go to all of you who read my stories. Every single view, favourite and review that these stories get inspires me to write more.**

It was dawn breaking over the horizon that stirred the sleeping young Wolfblood on his birthday. As he sat up, he noticed the empty bed of his twin sister on the other side of the room. At the sight of it, his eyes burned yellow with fury. Why didn't she wake him?

Kira Morris was just sitting down to breakfast with her parents. It was the usual of bacon sandwiches. The main difference though, was that she and her brother had a plate of chocolate chip pancakes on the side as a birthday treat. At that moment, Connor came storming in.

"Why the hell didn't you wake me?" he fumed.

"Don't give your sister a hard time, Connor." Maddy said. "You're both turning sixteen today, so can't you act a bit more mature than you did when you were six?"

"I wanted to wake you, but you just looked so peaceful lying there." Kira said. "Besides, I thought the smell of the food would have woken you long ago."

"I didn't actually smell the food until I stepped into the hallway." Connor admitted.

"Some Wolfblood you are." Kira jabbed.

"That's rich coming from the girl who can't even transform yet." Connor fired back Kira flinched at that. Everyone was becoming increasingly concerned for her by this point. Connor's blue wolf eyes had shown early at about five and a half months, and his wolf eyes had turned yellow just after he and Kira turned ten. His first transformation had been and gone, and the changes had been flawless. But for Kira, the story wasn't the same. Her wolf hadn't shown itself until she was nearly one year old, and her eyes still turned blue whenever her wolf surfaced. She hadn't had her first transformation yet and her child's wolf was a lot weaker. By this point, she should have seen significant enhancements in her sight, hearing, speed and sense of smell; but her senses were barely any stronger than a human's

"Connor, you know we don't mention that!" Rhydian snapped. Even Connor regretted saying what he had.

"No, he's right." Kira said. "I should have transformed long ago. There has to be some logical reason why the change hasn't come yet. The only task is finding out what that reason is."

"That's the spirit." Maddy hugged her daughter. "Have you checked to see if they've turned yellow today?"

"I checked as soon as I woke up, like I always do." Kira said. "Everything's still the same." There was a slight despondent hush that fell over the table. Even Doctor Whitewood hadn't been able to find a reason behind it, and she'd been Segolia's leading specialist ever since Rhydian and Jana had destroyed Kincaid's plot to rid the world of Wolfbloods. He was dead now. An explosion at a Segolia prison had seen to that.

The Wolfbloods finished breakfast and all took their plates over to the sink.

"Connor, you can help your mother with the washing up because of that remark about your sister." Rhydian said. Connor trudged over to the sink and was about to grab the towel when the doorbell rang. He hurried over to answer it and was greeted by Tom and Shannon at the door armed with presents.

"Who is it?" Maddy called through.

"It's Uncle Tom and Aunt Shannon!" Connor called back. Rhydian hurried over and waved them in. The twins knew Tom and Shannon as an aunt and uncle because of how close the four friends all were. They were literally all one big family.

"We've brought presents." Tom said.

"That's lovely. If you can just put them on the pile with the others, and they can open them as soon as Connor's finished helping me with the washing up." Maddy said, sticking her head around the door frame and beckoning Connor over. Everyone waited patiently while Maddy subjected Connor to the torture of washing up, but eventually he was sat next to his sister on the floor. The pile of presents sat in front of them, with Connor's wrapped in green paper and Kira's wrapped in yellow. Maddy and Rhydian had always asked that people wrap the presents in the twins' favourite colours so that they knew whose presents belonged to each of them.

"Maybe your presents should be wrapped in blue paper to match your eyes." Connor jabbed.

"Connor, can you stop having a go at your sister for five seconds?" Rhydian growled.

"Dad, I'm her big brother. It's my job to have a dig at her occasionally." Connor replied.

"Just shut up and start opening presents." Maddy said, raising her camera. Connor and Kira tore at their presents with the ferocity of wild animals. In the end, they got quite a good stash each. Kira got some assorted books such as teen murder mysteries and romance novels that she loved, while Connor got a stash of video games that he'd been after for months, as well as an iPod each and Kira got a new phone to replace the one that got smashed during the accident at school. Eventually, they both had a nice stack of presents beside them and Maddy had three full memory cards worth of photos.

"If you go and upload those, I'll get snacks for everyone." Rhydian said. Maddy nodded and left to boot up the computer.

"How is she now?" Shannon asked.

"It's been over fifteen years since the incident and she's still not improved much." Rhydian told her. "I keep asking her to talk to someone about it, but she's shot me down at every turn. Have you been to see Jana today?"

"Are you joking? It's the anniversary of her dad's death!" Tom tried to keep his voice down so that Maddy didn't hear. "The last time we did that, we nearly died!"

"I remember the day we found him." Rhydian muttered as the image drifted into their minds. They'd run out at the sound of a scream from Jana to find Alric slumped under the massive tree at the bottom of Shannon and Tom's garden, a thin blanket of flower blossoms covering him. The expression on his face was one of peace. It was clear he'd been struggling for a long time before he could finally rest.

"I still can't help but wonder why the wild Wolfbloods can't accept the same way of life the humans and regular Wolfbloods lead." Connor said. "I know it's probably one of those 'when I'm older I'll understand' things, but they're about seven whole centuries behind us. They still believe in Valhalla."

"I suppose everyone needs somewhere to believe they're going at the end." Kira muttered.

"My dad always said that they don't let tame Wolfbloods into Valhalla." Everyone looked over to see Jana leaning in the doorway. It was clear she'd been crying, but she was determined to stay composed. The twins ran over and hugged her, but they were still careful. They knew how cranky she'd been a few years after it happened. They'd made the mistake of asking to visit her on their birthday and ended up leaving with Kira in tears and Connor holding her close to let her feel safe. It was this week every year that Jana's attitude was absolutely foul.

"You look like you're running on fumes." Tom remarked.

"I'll survive." Jana replied. "I've let what happened hold me back for long enough, and I can't keep bringing Connor and Kira misery on their birthday. Speaking of which, you'll want these." Jana passed a bag to Connor and Kira that was bursting at the seams from two massive boxes. The twins tore off the wrapping paper and held up the boxes. Looks of amazement crossed their faces. Each one was a Wii U. Connor's was black and Kira's was white so that it was clear which one each of them belonged to. At that moment, Maddy walked back in before spotting Jana standing in the living room.

"It's nice to see you out and about at this time of year." Maddy said.

"It's nice to see you smiling again." Jana turned to Maddy and hugged her. "You very rarely smile this time of year. You don't have to feel so sorry for yourself. I don't blame you for holding a grudge against my dad for what he did, and neither would he."

"I know, but I just can't stop thinking about the look on your face when we found him and how I spent so long hating him only to find out things were all patched over while I was in Canada."

"He was a great help in defeating Kincaid." Rhydian put in. "He organised everyone together so we could make sure no one was missed out when we cured the serum Kincaid gave us. He's the reason everyone's still a Wolfblood now. It was sad that it was too late for Meinir though."

"We haven't seen Meinir since then." Jana told him.

"Is Kincaid the one who was killed when that Segolia prison was blown up the year Connor and I were born?" Kira asked.

"That's the one." Shannon told her.

"He's the sort you've really got to be careful of." Tom said to the twins. "We all trusted him, and it turned out that he was the traitor who wanted to turn every Wolfblood in existence into a human."

"Mum and Dad told us this story." Connor replied. "I just hope there's no more like him in the world."

"There's bound to be someone." Rhydian muttered sleepily. "Just as long as they don't lay a finger on our families, there's no bad blood."

"Speaking of families, where's Lisa?" Maddy asked, referring to Tom and Shannon's daughter.

"She's not feeling too well." Shannon replied. "We'll have to get back to her soon."

"How about I call over and see her at some point?" Kira asked.

"Would you? That would be lovely." Shannon said. Just then, they all looked up to arguing at the front door.

"I explicitly said not to forget the presents!" The owner of the voice was clearly very angry.

"I'm an old man, angel-face. I'm at the age where I forget whether it's when you're going up or down the hill that you start to pick up speed." Just then, Maddy flung open the door to reveal Ceri and Gerwyn standing on the doorstep, with Ceri fixing a burning, yellow-eyed glare on Gerwyn.

"Hello, you two." Maddy beckoned them in and gave Gerwyn a hand up the step. "How's your day been?"

"I'm in the dog house again, and my wife's a pain in the arse." Gerwyn ranted. "Basically, nothing's changed even these days." Maddy giggled and followed them into the front room. As she entered, Ceri was in the middle of hugging the life out of Rhydian and Jana together. The twins were debating whether to try and save him or not.

"How are you, my beautiful Wolfbloods?" Ceri asked them. Neither could answer however, as their lungs currently had no oxygen in them. Ceri released them and they instantly started gulping in air as quickly as possible.

"Is your mother's perfume that bad, son?" Gerwyn asked Rhydian.

"I'm just going to get those snacks I mentioned." Rhydian disappeared into the kitchen.

"I'm just going to help him." Jana ran after Rhydian down the corridor to the kitchen. Ceri sat back on the sofa chuckling to herself. "And how are my lovely grandchildren?" Kira remained bright eyed and attentive, talking to Ceri about how their birthday was going and what they'd got so far, while Connor shuffled back against the wall and prayed that she wouldn't try to hug him

"If Emma and Dan turn up now, we really will have completed the set." Gerwyn muttered.

"No, we're going to see them later." Maddy told him.

"Speaking of going to see people, I think we should be going." Shannon grabbed her bag and stood to leave.

"We'll see you later then." Maddy hugged Shannon and Tom in turn. The twins also gave them a hug and showed them out the door just as Jana and Rhydian came back with snacks. There were sausage rolls, pigs in blankets and slices of ham all split between three plates in a display which defied all laws of gravity and cholesterol at the same time.

"Remind me again what those things are spraying chemicals all over the place and why you have them." Jana gasped, looking like she was about to choke.

"They're called 'air fresheners'." Rhydian explained for the umpteenth time. "Humans can't smell individual chemicals, so they think it smells like flowers."

"I think it's stupid." Jana growled as she took a sausage roll.

"That's why your house smells like raw meat." Connor chipped in.

"No one minds raw meat." Jana countered.

"No one minds it who's a Wolfblood anyway." Maddy muttered under her breath as she settled back against the sofa cushions and the conversation around her dissolved into white noise. She couldn't wait until Jana, Ceri and Gerwyn were gone. As much as she loved them all, she had a bit of a surprise for her two children when they all had the house to themselves again.

Line Break!

"You are not meeting him in that outfit!" Rhydian's sharp tone cut through the air. As an extra birthday present, Maddy had given both the twins money to see a movie of their choice. Kira wanted to take her boyfriend. Maddy and Rhydian had given their approval, until Rhydian saw what she was wearing.

"What the hell is wrong with it?" Kira fumed.

"There's not enough of it! That's what's wrong with it!" Maddy was about to intervene, when the phone started ringing. She grabbed it off the stand and answered quickly.

"Am I speaking to the Morris family?" a voice asked.

"You've reached Maddy Morris; who's calling please?"

"This is Victoria Sweeney. I'm calling about details regarding Alexander Kincaid."

"Why are you calling regarding him?" Maddy asked. You confirmed through DNA traces that everyone died when the prison was blown up."

"We've just uncovered an anti-Wolfblood conspiracy involving someone faking his death." Sweeney told her. "For sixteen years we believed that man was dead and all this time he's still been kicking. We're putting e-mails out about an escaped prisoner with a picture of him, but keep your children close to home. Don't let them out of your sight for a second, else they may come back home as humans for all we know."

"We'll keep them close. Thanks for telling us." Maddy hung up and turned to the warzone that was their hallway. Rhydian and Kira had both called their wolf forward. Black veins had raced up their arms and their eyes burned as they faced off.

"They're at it again." Connor muttered from the top of the stairs. "I'm getting out of here while I can. See you later Mum."

"No one goes out that door!" Maddy shouted loud enough to make everyone turn and look at her. "Everyone sit on the sofa, I've got some bad news."

"Your parents don't want to stay over for a night again, do they?" Rhydian joked.

"It's worse than that." Maddy told him as Connor slowly made his way down the stairs. "Kincaid's alive and kicking. Whoever blew up the prison clearly didn't do a good enough job." The colour drained from Rhydian's face as the news registered.

"What about seeing the movies?" Kira asked.

"I'm afraid it's going to have to be cancelled." Maddy told her. "You can invite your boyfriend over here tonight. The pair of you can keep the money and get something nice for yourselves once Kincaid's either dead or behind bars again."

"Is there any idea how long that's going to take?" Connor asked. "I don't want to be ambushed on the way to the bank when we cash in our birthday money.

"Segolia are sending out an e-mail with his mug shot on it so people know who to look for, but there's no telling where he is or if he's had plastic surgery or anything. He supposedly died sixteen years ago, meaning he's had sixteen years to do as he likes." Maddy was mulling over the options they had when the doorbell rang. Instantly, Maddy and Rhydian turned and roared. Their eyes burned yellow and their fangs were bared as they adopted a defensive position. No one was going to harm their cubs.

"If Kincaid was coming to turn us human, I don't think he'd use the doorbell." Kira made her way over to the door, thinking that it was her boyfriend wondering if she needed a lift to the cinema. She opened the door to see an elderly looking man standing there holding an ornate box.

"Hello there, young lady; I believe your father made an enquiry into over fifties life cover. I'm here to deliver his free gift for making an inquiry."

"But my dad's not fifty yet." A puzzled look crossed Kira's face. In that second, the man pressed a button on the box, causing it to fly open and eject a pen-like device from inside. With the economy of an old man's movements, but none of an old man's slowness, he caught the pen out of the air and aimed it at Kira. A purple light fired from the end and struck Kira in the chest, leaving a deep, cauterised scar just above her left breast. Kira instantly staggered back and fell down, feeling her strength drain. Maddy and Rhydian instantly realised what was going on, so ran over to help. Sensing that something was up, Connor jumped over where his parents were crouched over their daughter. The intruder was making a dash down the path, so Connor transformed and gave chase. The man didn't make it to the road before Connor landed on his back. The house was in a secluded neighbourhood, so he had no risk of being seen.

"Who the hell are you?" he snarled. Connor's eyes were still yellow and his fangs were poised above the man's throat.

"You know who I am. You were just talking about me." Suddenly, a blinding white light filled Connor's vision. Surprisingly athletic for his suggested age, the man launched a two-footed kick, flinging Connor off him. Connor landed in a heap and blinked tears out of his eyes as the effect of the flash bomb subsided. When he was able to look up again, Alexander Kincaid had vanished.

Line Break!

Maddy and Rhydian were still crouched over Kira when Connor returned. They looked up as he got in, and Rhydian ran to help him as he misjudged the angle through his distorted vision and cracked his head on the doorframe. Rhydian slammed the door shut and put the crime lock back on the door. Kira's eyes burned blue as she cursed her own stupidity.

"From now on whenever we answer the door we ask who's on the other side of it first." Maddy was livid. The sanctuary of their home had just been breached and their cubs had both been hurt before they could react.

"God, I'm going to have bruises on my stomach." Connor was doubled over in agony, his eyes glowing yellow so that his wolf could help his injuries heal.

"I don't get it though. Both of them have been hit by that laser and both of them can still use their wolf." Rhydian mused.

"I thought you said it only took effect when the full moon rose?" Maddy was confused by the statement.

"No, the cure only took effect when the moon rose. The serum that took our wolf away got to work instantly. It was a green light as well."

"He didn't even get me with the laser." Connor groaned as he dropped to the floor and rolled onto his side.

"Yes he did." Rhydian traced his finger along the small scar on his son's neck. "What's the point in an anti-Wolfblood serum that doesn't work?"

"Maybe it's a dud?" Maddy asked as she pulled up Connor's shirt and stared in horror at the black bruises spreading across his stomach.

"He wouldn't come all the way here after spending sixteen years preparing for something like this to make a mistake like that." Kira said.

"You can't see any definitive shape to the bruising." Maddy mused. "I think if we write to Mr Jefferies on Bradlington's governing body and say you had an accident playing in the park with your baby cousin or something, he could spread the cover story around and make it official."

"I like that story, it plays well. I'll get typing." Rhydian said as he walked over to boot the computer up.

"Kira, get your Wii U plugged in and go play a game. Connor, I'm taking you to see Doctor Whitewood."

"Mum, I can't even get up or see straight right now. I need to travel like I need a hole in the head."

"Rhydian, can you ring Doctor Whitewood and see if either she or one of her students can do house calls?" Maddy asked. Rhydian instantly pulled his phone out and started scrolling through his contacts menu. Kira hauled herself to her feet, bent down, picked her brother up and carried him to their room. They were still sharing a room because they both loved the design their dad had painted on the walls, but they had a dividing curtain up. They had a TV on each side of the curtain, but took it in turns to watch movies in their room to avoid a sound clash. To Kira, it felt alien setting foot in her brother's side of the room. The last time she'd done that had been when they were kids, and he'd shot her with a Nerf gun.

"You'll be okay." Kira said as she laid him down and rested her forehead against his. "This can heal. Pain fades, but being insane seems to linger. I'd say you actually got a better deal than Kincaid in this instance."

"As sister's go, you're not bad; you know that?" Connor wheezed. Kira chuckled and stood up to leave. "By the way, that scar on your chest? I told you when you bought that top that the low neckline was a bad idea." Kira glared with distain at the scar that now marked her otherwise flawless skin.

"At least my school uniform will cover it." Kira replied. "Plus, a valiant effort with foundation will work wonders… I hope."

"You'll find a way." Connor assured her. "Go and plug your Wii U in. I'll be fine."

Line Break!

"Is it done then, Alex?" Kincaid stepped through the basement door and hung his coat up before turning to address the man who'd spoken.

"The tracking laser did its job." Kincaid answered. "If you turn the monitor on now, you should see the two dots that show their positions."

"Were there any problems?"

"That boy gave me more trouble than I expected. I had to cripple him badly before I could tag him with the laser. Oh, and apparently Rhydian hasn't turned fifty yet; so the cover story was officially flushed down the crapper." As Kincaid spoke, the monitor on the wall whirred into life. The map of Stoneybridge was displayed and two purple dots marked the positions as Kincaid had said.

"Are you sure the twins didn't just forget his birthday?" Kincaid turned to face the other man with a look of annoyance on his face.

"Rhydian grew up in foster care, as you well know. They're a very close-knit family. I would be genuinely astounded if they somehow managed to forget his birthday."

"I know Rhydian grew up in foster care. He'd just been fostered by the Vaughns when I first met him. He's only a pawn in a great game though. I have every faith we can pull this off now. When those Segolia agents told me about you, I didn't believe a word they said. But I paid one of them to phone you up anyway. They broke you out of that prison and agreed to your terms because they saw the truth in your words. But I was still unconvinced. Right now though, I'm a total convert. You could sell me a pink elephant."

"Just get me a rhino, a hosepipe and a can of paint and that's sorted." Kincaid nodded.

"Why would we get you a rhino when you're trying to flog me an elephant?"

"We wouldn't want to make things too easy." Kincaid eased himself into a chair. As he relaxed back, he surveyed the team of rogue Segolia agents busily working on the final solution. The twin animals would just be a test phase. If the serum worked, they'd deploy the final solution in the middle of Stoneybridge. Once that was in place, any and all Wolfbloods would fall. Today, they would save Stoneybridge; tomorrow, they would save the world.

"You know, I only have one year left in my position before I retire. If I can retire knowing everyone I leave behind is safe, then I can retire a happy man. Rebecca may not see it the same way, but I have to put the children's safety first."

"That's a loyalty worthy of thunderous applause." Kincaid let out a contented sigh as the ache in his back came forward and the muscles relaxed. "You have my word that everyone in Bradlington high or any other school in the world will be saved from the Wolfblood menace, Mister Jefferies. Before those animals even know what's happened, there'll be monumental trouble in paradise."

End!


End file.
